Installer Blog

What is the Bonfield Review and how will it affect the heating industry?

Neil Schofield – Head of Government and External Affairs for Worcester, Bosch Group – looks at the Bonfield Review, and how it affects the heating industry.

Installers, it is my duty to tell you that the British public needs protecting from you. You are rogue traders, inflicting poor quality installations and failing to comply with regulations.

Now, I know a lot of you are thinking, “Hang on, we installed 1.6 million boilers last year with barely a word of complaint.”

You are also probably wondering why you do so much training and are accredited by Gas Safe, OFTEC, etc?

None of this matters. According to a new review of Home Energy Market, there is a ‘systematic market failure’. This has forced DECC to initiate the Bonfield Review, which aims to sort out the heating and energy efficiency industries once and for all.

We don’t know much about this review yet, but we do know one thing. There is a proposal for an ‘oversight or Governance body’, which the supply chain (i.e. you and I) will have to pay for.

That’s right, the lessons of the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) and the Green Deal have not been learned. The answer to the problem that doesn’t exist is more forms to fill in, more accreditation and more cost.

Oh, by the way, Peter Bonfield is CEO of the Building Research Establishment, the same body that brought in MCS – and we know what an outstanding success that was.

It was Einstein who defined madness as, “Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.” He must have been thinking of countless home energy efficiency schemes that have failed for the same reason – too much bureaucracy.

The good news is the industry has been quick to mobilise. Letters have been written, meetings requested and pressure is being applied.

While the energy efficiency industry may have a case to answer, the heating industry does not. Our safety record is exemplary and the public trusts us.